pany, as a purely business enterprise, planted the Jamestown colony.

VIRGINIA

58. Jamestown.-Fifty miles from the mouth of the James River stand the ruins of a church, all that is left of

was then, as now, surrounded by swamps and marshes. But the trip across the Atlantic had been a long and stormy one; and the voyagers, eager to end the discomforts of ship life, did not deliberate long upon their landing-they hastily selected a site and stepped upon the shores of the New World.

59. The First Charter.-The first charter, though fixing the limits of the territory to be occupied by the London Company, granted no special rights to these first colonists. They were to be governed from London and the results of their labor were to be held in common. It was, however, conceded that they should have "all the rights and privileges of Englishmen, "-a phrase of vague meaning then, though destined in later years to form the basis of the claim made good on the hard-fought battlefields of the Revolution.

60. Character of the Colonists.-The success of a colony depends on the character of the colonists. They should be men who wish to make homes in the new land, and are willing to work. They should know what the resources of the country are, and be willing to develop them. The first

colonists of Virginia were not at all this sort of men. A majority of them were "gentlemen," utterly unsuited for the work in hand; not only that, they were a positive clog on the few who were of use. The early idea of the Spaniard had obtained a strong hold on them, and they spent their time in a fruitless search for gold. The summer thus wasted, the autumn brought no harvest, and they entered upon their first winter with scant provision and in miserable health.

61. Captain John Smith.-The Moses to lead them out of this plight appeared in the person of Captain John Smith. Much there is, no doubt, of romantic fancy in this character, yet were it all taken away, there remains enough of truth to stamp him an extraordinary man. John Smith had been made one of the "Council" for the colony, but on the way out had offended some of the leaders and had been placed in chains. He was released at the end of the voyage and for the first few months seems to have employed his time in a thorough exploration of the country, of which he made many excellent maps. Taken prisoner by Powhatan the story runs that the death sentence was about to be inflicted when Pocahontas, the little daughter of the chief, interceded in his behalf and saved his life. Whether fact or fancy, Pocahontas did many little deeds of kindness for the suffering colonists during that first winter, and was the means of bringing about a better understanding between the colonists. and the Indians. When grown to womanhood she married John Rolfe, one of the settlers, who took her on a visit to England. She was the object there of much attention by the nobility, and was feted and feasted on every hand. Many of the early Virginians claimed descent from her.

Under Smith's leadership, the colonists were organized into working bands, sanitary measures were enforced, and the friendship of the Indians cultivated. By these means they were kept alive until aid arrived from England. Smith remained with the colonists for two years, returning to

England in 1609. Several years later he explored and mapped the coast of New England, naming many of its capes and bays. The Pilgrims, before setting sail in the Mayflower (1620) for the "rock-bound" coast of Massachusetts, availed themselves of a copy of this map, and landed at a point which Smith had named Plymouth.

62. The Light Almost Out-Lord Delaware Rekindles It. On the departure of Smith, the colonists, who now numbered nearly five hundred, began their old career of idleness, bickering with the Indian, and quarreling among themselves. This could have but one result; the winter which followed was one of wretchedness and despair, and the spring found but a band of sixty of the strongest, surviving. These had already made preparation for a return to England, when the new governor, Lord Delaware, sailed into the river with shiploads of supplies and more colonists.

63. The Second and Third Charters.-Two years after the first charter was granted, another was secured of the king. The only important change was in creating the office of governor, and in giving him, instead of the Council, authority over the colonists. In 1612 a third charter was obtained. Heretofore the affairs of the colony had been administered by a board in London. This board was now abolished and the stockholders of the company put in control. The change affected the individual colonist but little. From this time, however, the colony, as a whole, improved.

64. Communism a Failure.-"All things in common" is very well in theory, but its successful practice requires ideal conditions. These were not present in the Jamestown colony. Many of the colonists were vicious idlers and jailbirds, picked up on the streets of London. To such persons, “All things in common" meant, "Put in as little as possible; get out as much as you can. Lord Delaware being in broken health, soon returned to England, and Sir Thomas Dale was appointed governor. Dale was brutally rigorous in his discipline. His gospel was law and order. A whipping-post

was established for the punishment of offenders; he imprisoned them; he put them in stocks. But he brought order out of chaos, and he placed the colony once more on a working basis. He did away with communism. Each person was required to deposit two and a half barrels of corn in the common store-house once a year, but all over that was private property. The "starving time" was a thing of the past.

65. Tobacco and Its Influence on the Life of the Colonists. So far the Virginia colony had not been successful.

Why? Was it impossible for people to grow rich and prosperous in Virginia, or had they not yet discovered where the true riches of the country lay? In order to answer these

questions we shall have to examine more carefully the geography, climate and soil of this part of the Atlantic coast. If you look at a map of Virginia, you will see a low, flat country, crossed by many broad, sluggish rivers. The coast is low and marshy and guarded by long sandy islands, so there are few good harbors. The ocean tides run many miles up the rivers, forming estuaries, and the ships float up with the tides to some point at the head of the tide water, instead of stopping at a harbor on the coast. The climate of Virginia is mild and equable. The soil is deep and fertile, and in it the tobacco plant grows luxuriantly. The people of England were just beginning to use tobacco, and were willing to pay a high price for it. The "tobacco habit" rapidly became general, and by the dawn of the seventeenth century tobacco had become a regular article of commerce. The manner of

its handling facilitates an easy exchange and it retains its merchantable quality for long periods. These points combined to make it a popular crop in Virginia.

66. Indentured Servants and the Development of the "Poor White."-White slavery was countenanced in English society at this time-not that of absolute ownership, but of a financial character. Persons in debt were required to give their labor to their creditor until the debt was discharged. A free person could sell his labor in advance. This made the buyer his owner for that period. A common method among the very poor to secure passage to the New World was to sell, or "indenture," themselves to persons of means who expected to settle there. As their term of service expired, these industrial servants found themselves in a new land, with nothing but their labor to sell, and that practically worthless because the landed class was supplied either with the indentured slave or the absolute, slave, the negro. Having no means to buy land, he depended on the scant charity of the planter classes and became the progenitor of that despised element known as the "poor white."

67. A Cloud.-A thrifty Dutch sea captain anchored in James River one day in 1619 and left part of his cargo, twenty negro slaves. In 1861, at the beginning of our Civil War, there were nearly four millions of negro slaves within the borders of the republic. Like all new departures, the system of slave labor was a growth. It was distinctly unpopular at first. But it was soon found that the negro was specially adapted to the culture of the tobacco plant, and as that staple increased in value, the colonists' repugnance to slavery decreased.

68. Beginnings of the Republic.-The successful cultivation of tobacco required large tracts of land and many laborers. So each planter lived with his family, his indentured servants or his slaves, on a great estate or plantation. When the tobacco crop was ready to ship, he took it to the wharf on the bank of the river which ran